Hanns Family Trip to Ogoja, Nigeria

February 13-26, 2007

by Cyd Hanns

Host: Fr. Peter Abue and friends

Travelers:  Cyd Hanns, Martha Hanns, Sam George (14 yrs), Tyler Hanns (20 yrs.)

The Hanns Family in the Okuku Junc Market, Nigeria

My family lived in Ogoja town from 1962 to 1964 and we have always wanted to go back. My parents (Dr. Waldo Hanns, MD and Martha Hanns, RN) worked as medical missionaries with the Catholic Medical Mission Board. We were stationed at the Ogoja Leprosy Settlement, now known as Moniaya Hospital. On that trip, 45 years ago, six of us traveled over (Dad, Mom, me (senior daughter, 8 yrs; Sam is my son), Bo (4 yrs; Tyler is Bo’s son), Jody (3 yrs), and Davy (2 yrs). Seven of us came back; my youngest brother Danny was born there.  I went to 3rd and 4th grade at Holy Child Convent School, Ogoja. We made many friends but have been out of touch with our friends from Ogoja for a long time.  Part of the delay in traveling back was due to the severe travel warnings for Nigeria.

During the last several years I periodically browsed the Internet for information on Ogoja. A few years ago I discovered the Gospa–sponsored orphanage and started two sponsorships. Last fall I found information on CORAfrica and decided to contact Fr. Peter in person, as their "volunteer vacations" was not yet up and running.  

[From: P eter A bue [mailto:obeleabue@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2006 3:35 AM
To: Cyd Hanns    

Subject: Ogoja visit

Hi Cyd,

Consider me your host when and if you make it to Ogoja. Yes, I will pick you up and settle you in Ogoja. …Hope you will be there… The proposed time in February is good. By that time our diocese should be settling down with a new bishop who was named recently and will be installed in Ogoja on January 6th 2007. I think things should be settled enough for your journey. Regarding your safety, I wish to reassure you that you will be very safe. If you propose to land in Abuja as I know you will, I will pick you up from the airport and the rest of the trip will be guided by me. 

Waiting to hear from you then…

Fr. Peter Abue                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

 Idum- Mbube
Ogoja, Nigeria]

Fr. Peter offered to host our visit, and this was all we needed to hear. We made our final decision about making our trip to Nigeria for sooner rather than later, arriving in Abuja February 13 – 27, 2007. Fr. Peter and friends spent a lot of time and energy, among other things, to make this trip happen for us.  

[From: Cyd Hanns       

Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 7:04 PM
To: Peter Abue
Subject: RE: FW: Abuja-Ogoja

Hi Fr. Peter,

We have locked in on our tickets (coordinated separate flights to London and then all of us together to Abuja).

Being low season helps a lot.

I'm starting to feel like we are imposing...

I'm bringing the crowd hoping it really isn't too much. We really appreciate all you are doing for our visit.

Cyd Teresa Hanns and Sam George 14 yrs (my son) from Alaska

Martha Hanns (Cyd's mom) and Tyler Hanns 19 yrs  (nephew/grandson)  from Arizona

and Uanugalu (until later)

 - Cyd]

Tuesday, February 13, 2007    

              Sam and I traveled 3 nights and 2 days from Alaska (a bit shorter for Martha and Tyler from Arizona) to arrive in Abuja this morning at 5:30 a.m. We had a full day of sightseeing in London before boarding our overnight plane to Nigeria. Fr. Peter met us at the airport along with Bob and Collins. We were very happy to have them meet us right as we passed through customs – we never had a moment of “what should we do now?” The airport and customs agents were all very welcoming and expressed friendly interest in Tyler (our 20 year old) finding a wife in Nigeria.  We quickly filled up the Toyota van hired by Fr. Peter for our trip.

              We went into the city and met briefly with Fr. Peter’s colleague, Mr. Mathias Ushie, to plan our U.S. dollars exchange for Nigerian Naira. This turned out to be a very interesting endeavor.

              Since it was still early we stopped for breakfast at Mama Cass’s for our first Nigerian breakfast, cafeteria style.  

              Later, Mathias took us to a local “money exchanger”, and even though we were assured of their legitimacy, it still had an air of daring and adventure to have our money exchanged in an interesting old (not modern, non-bank) building by the “big money man” (in a suit and clearly in charge) who sat behind a plain desk with stacks of money behind him. It was a busy multi-use building, including an African gray parrot and a man doing shoe repair on the breezeway porch with no obvious signs of security (unlike at the bank) but I’m sure it was there. We could only do an exchange of cash; our traveler’s checks were a problem. We ended up having to stay overnight one night at the Sheraton Hotel in order to have our traveler’s checks cashed as a registered guest to the hotel. 

              We had dinner at Wikkis Indian Restaurant with our new friends.

              After dinner, we went to “Amigos” grocery store to stock up on items we’d like or that were not easily available in Ogoja or the villages (i.e. some cereal, peanut butter, honey, ramen noodles for backup).

              Our hotel room had a nice balcony from which we could view the city and the National Mosque – a grand building. The air was hazy due to some smoke and the harmattan season, a period during the dry season when the wind blows and stirs up fine particles of dust into the air. The wind howled through a crack in the sliding glass door but I enjoyed our night there.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007        

              We started off for Ogoja at about 6:30 a.m. just as dawn was breaking in order to make it to Ogoja by early afternoon in time for Father to say mass in his parish.

              We stopped by Nyanya along the way to visit Fr. Peter’s sister, Monica and his new nephew, Joe Peters.  

              Traveling Nigerian roads is quite exciting, between dodging the potholes, other cars, pedestrians, and motor bikes. The Abuja area has good, wide, four–lane highways which later turn to two–lane, unkept, (but paved!) roads (after Keffi, I think). The slowdown caused by potholes keeps you awake and alert to enjoy the scenery, instead of just dozing off along on a smooth fast road.

              At Keffi we picked up Father’s cousin, Felicia Abue, who had just finished her year of National Youth Service (after graduation from University of Calabar, Nigeria). She was a welcome companion and acted as our tour guide as she knew the history and cultural information of the towns and States we passed through along the way. Later in the trip, at Mbube, we met more nice young folks in the midst of doing their year of national service.

              We stopped for lunch in Makurdi at Mr. Biggs “fast food” restaurant (meat pies, chicken curry and ‘jollof rice’, hot dog, Fanta, and water). We also shopped for a photo album to put our photos from the 60s in.

Tyler eating at Mr. Biggs

              As we continued on we came upon a number of road blocks – usually by military dressed men who had the road blocked by a maze of logs that you had to slow down to weave through. This allowed them to check you out and wave you through if they didn’t want you to stop. Father explained that these were essentially “toll stops” to collect money from commercial vehicles. We did have one road block by non-uniformed young men who claimed they needed to collect a tax on the mission vehicle we traveled in. This delayed us for just a bit, but Father cleared us through after talking to the “big man” under the tree who was overseeing from the sidelines.      

              During this road trip, Father used his cell phone to check with someone about someone in our photos. This turned out to be our friend Angela’s son (Paulo) and he confirmed that yes! his mom knew the Hanns family and had been long hoping to make new contact.

              Nearing Ogoja we stopped at St. Winifred’s School, opened by Father Oharry’s (Peter's friend) parish. Our boys (Sam and Tyler) got their first experience with meeting Nigerian village school kids who welcomed us with great smiles of greeting and shouts of “oyibo!” They become quiet and shy upon meeting us up close but quickly offered hands for hand shakes and high fives.

Tyler greeting the village schoolchildren

              We arrived at Ogoja at about 3 p.m. and after a short stop to see our old house, we settled into the fine Ogoja Plaza Hotel. It is a fairly new hotel and we were lucky (as we were to find out) to have running water to the tap, toilet, and tub. It turned out this hotel was next door to my childhood friend Veronica’s family compound. Her old family hut had been replaced by a fine block home.

              A short while after we arrived we met up with some of our friends from 45 years ago! Angela (Mrs. Ogbeche), her son Paulo Ogbeche, and Patricia (Madam Bisong). Angela and Patricia had lived with us as 16 year olds and it was a great reunion.  Angela is my brother Danny’s godmother. We hugged and cried a bit (and admired Angela and Patricia’s fine traditional dress) and were happy to find each other doing well. We poured over the old pictures and reminisced. Rita Nwoga brought us a fine dinner that we shared together on the hotel veranda. After dinner, Veronica surprised us by coming by and took me to her house right next door. 

              We went early to bed after a big day and were grateful to have the ceiling fans speed up enough to produce a good breeze with the energy boost from the hotel generators (that run only at night unless there is a power outage during the day).  We quickly found out if you want to use any electrical power it’s best done at night when the generators are running.

              Rita Nwoga prepared and brought most of our meals that week – which we generally took on the hotel veranda with friends that stopped by. We ate traditional Nigerian fare such as: pounded yam (foo-foo), various sauces, rice (curried and jollof), chicken, fish, plantain dishes, yam chips, and yam porridge. A few times we had fried potato “chips” and hotdog type sausages offered as a meal with an American feel. We ordered tea, coffee, water, and sodas from the hotel.

Thursday, February 15, 2007 

              Fr. Peter took us to visit Bishop Dr. John Ebebe Ayah in the morning. We looked over old photos together, visited, and took new pictures together. Bishop invited us to lunch on Monday at his new house.

              For lunch the boys learned how to make foo-foo at Veronica’s house. 

Making foo-foo

              Mr. and Mrs. (Veronica) Martin Agogo took us to Okuku Market in the nearby town. To our surprise, they asked us to pick out materials for new Nigerian clothes that a family member, Felicia, would make for us. Veronica also had three sets of matching clothes (wrappa, blouse, and scarf) made for us to wear together to Sunday mass at the Cathedral!

              In the evening we visited Veronica’s house with family friends and enjoyed a taste of palm wine. Veronica’s place is nicely situated to hail passers by. Sister Dr. Catharine Okpa stopped by and visited with us. After dinner she and Sister Antoinette Mensah  (of the school), originally from Cameroon, stopped by the hotel and bought us juice and bananas. We looked at pictures again and had a nice visit together. Dr. Okpa would be traveling that week and so we would not able to meet with her again.

              Each evening Veronica, Rita, and Felicia (Abue) would make sure we had what we needed and “tuck” us in for the night. One night we all watched Nigerian “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” together on the hotel room TV. A few evenings we listened to the cheers of soccer fans watching games at the hotel veranda bar. I enjoyed that a lot, it never went too late.

Friday, February 16, 2007     

              We relaxed through the morning. I visited with a friend while she waited for her ride to work. She filled me in a bit about her life and job as a nurse and area immunization coordinator. Her paychecks are often a month or two late (a common thing). She hopes to build a small shop and pharmacy on her compound (property). They have a borehole started (well) but it needs to be made deeper in order to sell water as a business. With these businesses, she and her extended family would do better; it certainly would help after retirement. She would also like to do her own small maternity clinic; she already works as a midwife to help deliver babies (about 3/month).Later, Angela and Patricia bought us a fine lunch at the hotel.

              After the heat of the day (~ 4 p.m.), Veronica guided us on a walk to what used to be the Ogoja Leprosy Settlement Hospital across from our house there, and is now Moniaya Hospital. On the way we met another of our old classmates along the road – she ran across the street to give us a very warm welcome. All people greeted us with good spirit and many invited us to “snap” their photo. We walked back to the hotel as darkness fell, passing students at a school who had lined up to say their evening rosary as they walked the grounds. We also saw the aftermath of a bad motor vehicle accident at the bend in the road.

              Fr. Fabian Osang (Fr. Peter’s son) stopped by to ask to take us to the wildlife and forest refuge near his home village later in the week. Fabian is a delightful young priest with an easy, infectious laugh. We very much enjoyed meeting him along with Rev. Simon Oniga (to be ordained in April 2007) and other friends in the brotherhood (of priests).

Saturday February 17, 2007              

              Mom and I attended 6 a.m. mass at the Cathedral. We walked in darkness along the road, which was difficult for us without a flashlight, but routine for everyone else also walking along the road to church or other. We sat in the back and, as we found usual, a lady made sure we had a seat. The Cathedral was full, the singing wonderful – and heard for a long ways (you always know if a church is in the area at mass time). Sun up is about 6:30; we walked home an hour later in full light.

Attending Mass

              After a breakfast of yam chips and eggs, we traveled to Mbube with Fr. Peter, Felicia and Veronica. The road to Mbube is pretty rough with deep ruts from run off (but dry now). We traveled (45-60 min trip) in the Gospa mission Toyota Hilux crew cab. Fr. Peter took us for a quick look at the Gospa Orphanage and then we went back to the church. Fr. Peter jumped out and quickly got ready to join the mass processional entrance. This day was a big celebration for Sr. Florence Abang’s final vocational step or “final profession” that readied her to go out and work in another State (a school for deaf and dumb). It was a grand celebration and we were very lucky to be a part of it. Fr. Peter introduced us to the congregation during mass. We very much enjoyed hearing the Gospa students and local ladies choir sing. Collection time was wonderful; everyone dances forward to drop their donation in the box while the whole church sings. We were challenged to attend and appreciate again anytime, fine Nigerian–style mass at Mbube.

              After mass and pictures, we went with Fr. Peter to be introduced to the Idum-Mbube Chief, as is customary and proper to do.  He served us cold drinks, palm wine, and cola nut.  He and his wife welcomed us and we looked through our old pictures and visited for a while.  After a quick stop to see Fr. Peter’s family compound, we went back to the church.  The boys ended up eating lunch at the orphanage, and toured the school, while Mom and I were sidetracked watching traditional dancing and speeches as part of Sister’s celebration (Sorry! We didn’t know we were supposed to be at the school for lunch!). 

              This was a very big day for us and we were very impressed. We met more old friends, including a patient of Dad’s (Jonas, now a Chief himself), and made new ones.

Meeting with the Idum-Mbube Chief

Sunday, February 18, 2007     

              We attended mass with Veronica and friends in our fine, new, matching Nigerian outfits. We were especially impressed by the three offerings (two special projects and the parish) and two special mentions – a newly married couple and a men’s group called “The Dependables”. After mass, Veronica took us over to the rectory to meet Fr. George Chokpa.

              Late in the afternoon I walked with Veronica to Holy Child/Mt. Carmel School on some of the old paths we used to use when we attended school there together. We visited her daughter who attends the boarding school there now. While there, we visited Rita (school cook) and watched the students gather for evening rosary. Later, we watched as they went to dinner in the dinning hall in growing darkness. The students finished their meal in darkness, literally, as there was little more than a small lantern in the long multi-roomed dining hall. The school buildings have not changed much at all in 45 years, except to get older and run down (no new coats of paint or improvements), but I never heard any complaints. Fr. Fabian carried us home in his car after dark.

              That evening I listened to a vigorous talk on politics and got a little bit more understanding of local issues. I was assured that the one thing Nigerians keep is hope, and if things don’t go right, then they hope again.

Monday, February 19, 2007        

              We packed up and checked out of the Ogoja Plaza Hotel, just as it was starting to feel like home and we were becoming better acquainted with the staff. After lunch with the Bishop we would travel on to Fr. Peter’s parish at Obudu.

              We had a fine lunch of foofoo and pepper soup at Bishop Ayah’s house with our close friends.

              After lunch we set off for Obudu and arrived around 4 p.m. Father took the boys off to his village station for mass, and mom and I went into Obudu town with Angela for a tour and to see her house. 

              Father’s parish house is heavily under construction but has two nearly finished rooms that he gave to us. He moved to another less finished room. We enjoyed being there very much, and all the folks who support him and the parish work there - Ugbe (Father’s right hand man while we were there), Bob, night watchman, students, and others – and those who stopped by to say hello or for some special need. We took our meals with him outside on the veranda (in progress).  

Mom eating on the veranda with Peter

              While we lamented (fairly quietly and with growing acceptance) the lack of at least enough electricity to power our laptop and battery chargers, we also became more and more impressed with the way folks lived with limited power and in darkness come nightfall. There was no running water; all water was carried in for use to wash (basin), flush the toilet, or bathe (“bucket & bowl” bath). There was no hot water, except for drinking/cooking; but the cool baths were welcome at the end of hot days. Ugbe showed us a nearby spring with an old pipe and reservoir system that they hope to re-furbish someday.  

              On one of these days, we went with Father Peter to bless a newborn baby at a very small community clinic nearby.

It was nice to be a part of this event and it gave us a chance to see what the clinic looked like inside. We have photographs – it really was pretty distressing to see how far below standard the clinic facility is, even compared to what I remember as available in Ogoja village stations years ago. We visited one other clinic on the trip and it was of the same condition.

The clinic delivery room                                                       Outside the clinic

Tuesday, February 20, 2007       

               We set off to visit “The Ranch” after breakfast (the Obudu Cattle Ranch Resort/Protea Hotel) with our entourage of new and old friends (two cars). We had spent a weekend there 45 years ago and recognized the original well-kept main guesthouse and grounds. A lot of new construction is going on and it is being developed into a world class resort. A brand new cable car system is in place to carry you from the brand new swimming pool complex at the bottom to the main resort at the top. The cooler air is very nice and the views impressive. We trekked to a waterfall and had a nice picnic lunch.  Click the following link for more information about the ranch: http://www.crossriverstate.com/mofinews_enviroment.htm

Wednesday, February 21, 2007   

              We attended Ash Wednesday mass at Fr. Peter's parish. After mass we enjoyed greeting folks who missed mass and tracked Father down at home for ashes and blessing. 

A female student studying on Ash Wednesday

              Students came by to take us up to the school for a quick tour and soccer match. The classrooms are meager (again, no sign of regular maintenance or improvements, as evidenced for one thing: broken desks still in the classroom) and unadorned but the students were bright and welcoming.

              Angela picked us up for lunch at her house and later walked us through the local market. That evening we enjoyed watching soccer with her family on their TV. Mom and I spent the night there while Sam and Tyler went back to the parish house.

A classroom at the orphanage

Thursday, February 22, 2007             

              Angela packed lunch for us and we all set off with Fr. Fabian to see Buanchor and the Drill Ranch (Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary), which the community of Baunchor is actively involved in (per my Nigeria travel book).  I’ll have to ask Fr. Fabian more about this.

              We went for a guided walk through the forest canopy on the new hanging bridge system that is one of only two in the world of such length. The guides are locals who were involved with the project through its construction and are now expert keepers of the system. We went during the heat of mid-day. Next time I would go at evening time or spend the night (huts available) to get the most out of this beautiful area and have a better chance for seeing wildlife and the monkeys nest in the treetops at dusk and dawn. 

              We took our lunch at Fr. Fabians home in Buanchor, a village community. It seemed like all the local kids came to see and great us. 

Walking along the hanging bridge

Friday, February 23, 2007     

              We traveled back to Mbube (Idum-Mbube) to visit the orphanage again. We toured the facility while classes were in session. As we’ve had a chance to make first hand comparisons with other schools over a wide area, we’ve now seen for ourselves that this facility is the best in the area. It seems to me that just the benefit of having regular lighted evening hours for reading and study is enough to put it over the top for students and village community members. 

              I left some books that I brought from Alaska (Alaskan topics), along with one youth world geography picture book with the Vice Principal.

              We met with our sponsored students (orphans) again and had our pictures taken together.

              We were given very nice accommodation for our overnight stay at the principal’s complex. Late in the afternoon I followed some kids down to get water from an old well (borehole) in the nearby woods. Although the well was an appalling looking source of water, I enjoyed watching the dynamics as the kids worked together to get their little water from the site. After every bucket and pan was filled, they put their loads “for head” and headed out. I asked later what they could be using the water for and was told probably for washing. Village residents make good use of different water sources for different household needs.  

              After dinner we visited again, Jonas Achong Eroh, who was the patient of Dad’s in the 60’s. 

He is a chief now and gave us gifts of yam and a chicken. This was a very special meeting for each of us.

              Rain!  The rain poured down at bedtime. This trip has been during the end of the dry season – the hottest and driest time of year for Nigeria. We really appreciated this rainstorm. The kids at the house put out pans and buckets to collect water pouring off the roof.

Saturday, February 24, 2007             

              I invited Patrick and John (our sponsored students), and Helen (the student drama coach) to join us for breakfast and so we spent a little time together.

              We thought we would have a light visit at the orphanage this morning as Fr. Peter was to collect us early for travel back to Obudu – but it turned out that the orphanage had a full afternoon of special activities planned for us. They really rolled out the red carpet for us and we were a bit overwhelmed, but enjoyed the program very much. We visited the school informally in the morning and were later invited back for the official program. We were introduced to the 19 member advisory council and had our pictures taken with them and other guests of honor. We were introduced again with the two students that I sponsor. The students put on a fine program for us, which included a play and traditional dances.

Students in the play, students singing a welcome song

              Two other local dance groups also danced for us. We were given gifts of food and a set of matching Nigerian “uniform” outfits for each of us and Patrick and John. We were sorry to have to leave before the whole program finished but we hadn’t eaten yet and had to journey back to Obudu.  

              We headed back to Obudu through Ogoja and made a few stops to start our good byes.

Sunday, February 25, 2007             

              We attended mass at Obudu and Fr. Peter notified his parish that we where leaving the following day. Quite a few parishioners stopped by to tell us goodbye and wish us safe journey home. Two ladies brought us food for our journey and one quietly gave us money (not a lot, but a significant amount to her I’m sure). When I started to refuse the money, she said “No, this is our custom” – to give our guests something to help them on their travel home. So, I accepted graciously - and will remember the gift forever. 

Giving gifts

              Something like this happened again later in the day. We met for lunch at Patricia’s house and were given another new set of clothes. We spent an easy afternoon visiting until it was time to say goodbye. It was hard to say goodbye so soon after coming together again, after so many years.

              We returned to Father’s house to finish packing and make ready to leave for the airport in the morning.

Monday, February, 26 2007             

              We traveled back to Abuja from the Obudu area. We stopped at St. Winnifred's School again (the new girls secondary school), and various markets along the way to buy yams, mangos, sweet potato, onions, and peppers for relatives and friends in the city of Abuja, as it is cheaper from the village markets.

              We arrived in time for another fine dinner at Wikkis with Mathias.

              We stayed overnight at the Sharon Hotel. Even though we were looking forward to a shower, we each had a last “bucket bath” instead – with just a brief complaint from Sam.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007             

              We traveled to the airport for a 10 a.m. flight to London.

              We found a gift shop at the airport (and at the hotels) but we didn’t need to buy many gifts as we had received so many. I have one big serving basin-platter from a local market; Sam and Tyler have catapults. We were happy to have extra naira left over (as we planned) to donate for the new Obudu parish that Fr. Peter is hoping to build from the ground up.

In closing, briefly:

              We had a great trip. Fr. Peter and friends spent a lot of time and energy, among other things, to make this trip happen for us. We found our closest friends from our stay there 45 years ago and became a traveling entourage of friends touring the area. We didn’t have any problems or worries about our safety while we were there.

              The red carpet was rolled out for us and it was a bit overwhelming at times, but folks seemed genuinely friendly and happy for us to visit their communities. Everywhere we stopped to say hello, folks hauled out the chairs and tables with cold drinks and food o make us comfortable. We received many gifts of food and new clothes. It was a great experience to attend a full-length mass “Nigerian style” (as described by a local priest), with wonderful singing and music at any mass, not just Sundays.

             It wasn’t an easy trip in many ways - the heat, getting used to limited facilities, and seeing some of the real hardships people deal with everyday. It was the people who made our trip for the most part. It really was quite amazing meeting everyone, meeting up with our old friends, and finding the friendly welcoming place that I remembered from so many years ago.

              Martha, Tyler, Sam and I also owe big thank yous to Ogoja parish, Gospa Missions, CORAfrica, and the Idum-Mbube orphanage students, staff and council for their support of our visit. We very much appreciated the use of the nice quarters and meals at Mbube.  The use of the Ogoja parish and Gospa Mission vans and Gospa Mission crew cab truck was invaluable to our large group; we just paid for the fuel. I'm sure there were other things too that I don't know about. The Saturday reception program in our honor was over the top. We are just a very small piece of the big effort by Gospa and the local community that holds everything together in support of the orphanage/school project.  It's a pretty amazing place.